This purpose of this project is to commemorate and honor lost womyn's space--both ancient and modern. This can mean anything from lost women's colleges and schools, to lesbian bars and clubs. And everything sacred and profane in between.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Lipstick24

Lipstick24 is dedicated to offer the best ladies focused, gay friendly, bar, club and all around great hangout for the entire community.

We strive to provide a safe, open and supportive space for every female to be expressive and have a great time doing it. We believe Austin is in desperate need of a place for female artists of all kinds: musicians, burlesque dancers, fashion designers, belly dancers, fire dancers, roller derby, athletes,

Lipstick24 Grand OpeningDecember 4, 2010

DJ’s, artists, poets, film directors and more. We also strongly believe in giving back to the community by hosting fundraisers and donating our space for special events. We built Lipstick24 to offer something for everyone, whatever your mood. Check out our calendar for events – we hope you’ll meet new friends, enjoy your time with old friends, see exciting shows and listen to great music.

Lipstick24 (December 2012)

The outside deck with picnic tables, an outdoor stage, trees adorned with tiny white lights; the swanky Lounge with couches and rotating art featuring local female and LGBTQIA artists; the game room to play some pool; and the dance club with a separate bar, amazing light show and kick ass speaker system.Lipstick24 isn’t trying to be a sparkly image driven bar. It’s a hangout. A place with character where girls can be girls, boys can be boys, you can be you. It’s a bar for all of us.. Come and Enjoy!

And then there's this, the "elevator speech" if you will:

Welcome to Lipstick24

Where Every Night is Ladies Night!Austins premier ladies club offering a swanky lounge, a tree covered deck with a combination of Live music and DJ's for your dancing pleasure.

As for the review sites, they all affirm that this was a lesbian place--which is not necessarily always the case.

Lipstick24 (December 2012)

FromZagat:
﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿"One of Austin's only lesbian bars", this "comfortable" Downtown hangout features an "all-girl staff" and plays "really loud" dance music; a back patio, pool tables and a stage hosting local LGBT acts supply a variety of distractions.

Gay Friendly Ladies BarLipstick24 isnt trying to be a sparkly image driven bar. Its a hangout. A place with character where we girls can meet for some drinks or seek mayhem in the next room if we so desire.

Lipstick 24 is Austin’s mainstay for gay and lesbian women from Thursday to Sunday, often sponsoring fundraisers for community events, showcasing local designers and performers, and even playing host for Real L Word appearances for celesbians such as Whitney Mixter. With all of the glam and none of the attitude, Lipstick 24 touts itself as “A place with character…where you can be you.”

As for what the customers say, it runs the gamut. You have the fans, the haters, the embittered men and their wives/girlfriends who are all pissed because they aren't treated really special at a lesbian bar.

...The bartenders were so nice and quick, and the clientele was super sweet and welcoming.

Tara D. at yelp, June 2011:

Great atmosphere and friendly staff. I always have a good time here. Jeanna and Kristen are two of the best bartenders ever! The management is awesome and extremely supportive of the LGBT community (as a gay bar should be, of course)...and they are always open to suggestions on how to improve the bar.

Lipstick24 is Austin's preeminent lesbian bar, but the downtown club has become a gathering place for everyone in the local LGBT community. Hang out in the casual outdoor patio, complete with an outdoor stage with weekly live music and entertainment. Lipstick also features a range of female-oriented artists, from roller derby performers and belly dancers to fashion designers and poets.

The Haters:

Gail A. at yelp, January 2013:

We arrived around 11pm on a Friday evening. The place was empty save the bartender, a handful of very unattractive women and a cold, abandoned stripper pole. Maybe I was just there on an off night, but I've experienced much better girl scenes in smaller cities/towns. We stayed for five minutes before abandoning the joint for a much livelier straight bar.

The Whiny Dudes and Straight Girls:Note that these comments tend to be long-winded in addition to being entitled and generally ignorant of and/or indifferent to the history of male ownership/domination/colonization of lesbian bars. All of these are pruned quite a bit, I assure you: Samantha P. at yelp, January 2011:

...my friend wanted to take me (and the two guys I was with) to Lipstick 24. Cool! I am an Ally, and I love dance bars and supporting local LGBTQ businesses, so I was all about it. ***

My friend Patrick waited at the bar for almost 20 minutes. The bartender served EVERYONE but him over and over. I walked up and gestured to the bartender, and she immediately walked up. I was really outraged and angered by it. Why ignore the guy who wants to close his tab, who has bought drinks, and who has enjoyed your bar and wants to come back? Hael F. at yelp, September 2011:DO NOT ENTER if you have male genitalia.

I was enticed to visit Lipstick24 when friends invited me there to see Lesbian pudding wrestling. While I'm sure it wasn't vegan pudding and I prefer the gents... I am always down for a couple of ladies throwing down in some Bill Cosby loving pudding. After walking through the door, we stopped at bar to grab drink before partaking in the action.

There were three of us (all gay men) at the bar attempting to order a beer. We waited for nearly 20 minutes for a bartender to even acknowledge us. This staff was completely inept, I've never seen such incompetence with when most of the ladies here were only ordering beers.

After finally, receiving our beers we headed to back patio for some girl-on-girl pudding action but we were too late. While we waited at the front bar, the pudding wrestling had ended. In order to console ourselves we decided to grab a couple more drinks from the outside bar. While this bar was not well stocked, we were greeted by a very gregarious and adorable bartender that was in stark comparison to our earlier experience.

This place was packed but I guess that's to be expected since it's the only lesbian bar in town. Overall, I don't think I'd go back. I understand the infighting between the gays and lesbians but I don't like to be treated like a second class citizen.

Matt H. at yelp, December 2010:

...Talking with my female friends, their guess is that the owner is a manhater. I don't know if that's the case, and I'm personally not going to assume it is in hopes that it was just sheer incidence that my experience was terrible. If that is the case though, it seems rather narrow-sighted to skip over someone who considers himself an ally and wholeheartedly supports your lifestyle.

Alethea B. at yelp, October 2011:I did not realize that it was a common experience for men to be glared at in a Lesbian bar. Most men who go are going with female friends or are gay themselves. Not every man who goes to a lesbian bar is trying to be a pervert who will save the gay woman from a life of homosexuality by showing her what a "real man feels like" (brrrrr). Anyway, I digress; the reason for that statement is that it is wrong for my husband and I to go to Lipstick 24 and as soon as I go to the bathroom, he gets glared at by so many of the lesbians that it looked like he just offered to impregnate the whole bar in the back seat of his Dodge.

Many sites (e.g. Zagat, yelp, GayCities, Austin360, sacbee) report that Lipstick24 is now closed, but as usual, there is no date. The last scheduled performer I see at songkick is March 2013 though. But in April 2013, it was announced in The Republiq that Austin was losing its "only lesbian bar." That being Lipstick24.The space is now the Empire Control Room & Garage--a concert venue. Or possibly Club 606. Not entirely sure which came first.